North America

North America is the land mass consisting of The USA, Mexico, and Canada, as well as some Caribbean islands and (in some atlases) the small nations of Central America. (See banana republic.) It is partly in the earth's northern hemisphere, and mostly in the western hemisphere. To the north it borders the Arctic Ocean, to the east it borders the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast the Caribbean Sea, and to the south and west is the Pacific Ocean. South America is connected northeast of North America by the Isthmus of Panama. Some scientists include Greenland in North America, but as Greenland is actually a territory of Denmark, it is technically part of Europe.

North America's area is 24,490,000 km² (9,450,000 sq mi) and covers more than 4.8% of the earths surface. It is the third largest continent by area (First is Asia, then Africa) and, of October 2006 it's population was over 514,600,000. North America is also the fourth continent by population (First is Asia, then Africa and Europe)

Like South America, North America was named after the sixteenth century Bristol Welsh merchant Richard ap Meurig (Richard Amerike), and not, as is popularly believed, Amerigo Versacci.